If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Switzerland is a postage stamp in the middle of the most inaccessible mountains in Europe, surrounded by major powers which were a strategic threat, and with no exports except for chocolate and cuckoo clocks. Their neutrality is a matter of necessity. The article misstates or ignores strategic threats to the US and fails to acknowledge that our position as the single largest economy in the world makes us a target, not just for plunderers, but for those who seek to dominate other states that we trade with or which provide us with critical strategic resources. It's an infantile view of foreign policy, and no one who understands how the world works could possibly subscribe to it.

Switzerland is a postage stamp in the middle of the most inaccessible mountains in Europe, surrounded by major powers which were a strategic threat, and with no exports except for chocolate and cuckoo clocks. Their neutrality is a matter of necessity. The article misstates or ignores strategic threats to the US and fails to acknowledge that our position as the single largest economy in the world makes us a target, not just for plunderers, but for those who seek to dominate other states that we trade with or which provide us with critical strategic resources. It's an infantile view of foreign policy, and no one who understands how the world works could possibly subscribe to it.

And that right there sums up the foreign policy knowledge base of Dr. Nutz and all of his cult followers.

Switzerland is a postage stamp in the middle of the most inaccessible mountains in Europe, surrounded by major powers which were a strategic threat, and with no exports except for chocolate and cuckoo clocks. Their neutrality is a matter of necessity. The article misstates or ignores strategic threats to the US and fails to acknowledge that our position as the single largest economy in the world makes us a target, not just for plunderers, but for those who seek to dominate other states that we trade with or which provide us with critical strategic resources. It's an infantile view of foreign policy, and no one who understands how the world works could possibly subscribe to it.

but we don't NEED to trade with others, if we put tariffs on imports, it will encourage businesses to make stuff here, releasing us of foreign dependancy, and creating jobs

If you want to see my political views, check out my profile. i have them on my wall because there wasn't enough room in the info section.

but we don't NEED to trade with others, if we put tariffs on imports, it will encourage businesses to make stuff here, releasing us of foreign dependancy, and creating jobs

Uh, no. Tariffs fail because they end up putting control of imports and exports in the hands of the government, rather than the private sector. That's not to say that there isn't a use for tariffs, but best kept as a weapon to punish countries that attempt to block us from accessing their markets. Tariffs can encourage businesses to make stuff here, but they also drive up the cost of goods and services that can be made cheaper elsewhere. That's the whole point of trade, that you exchange what you can make easily but someone else cannot for what they can make easily but you cannot. For example, the US has the most efficient agricultural sector in the world, and our exports exceed our imports, but there are certain types of produce that are much harder to grow here than elsewhere, such as tropical fruits, coffee, cocoa, etc. That's not to say that we couldn't grow them, but if we did, we'd have to expend a lot more effort for less gain. However, if we traded wheat, which we grow relatively easily in abundance, for cocoa, then we are trading an easy commodity for a difficult one, and the cocoa producers are doing the same. Everyone benefits. The other issue with tariffs is that self-sufficiency is an illusion. There are materials that we cannot produce here, and must import. For example, our heavy industry depends on tungsten, which is rare in the US, but much more common in China, certain parts of Europe and South America. Cutting off the supply of tungsten does more harm than good for us, and hits us in our most advanced manufacturing sectors.

The tariff was put in place for several reasons after the American Revolution, to encourage American Industry in the North, to limit the South's agricultural power that was derived from slavery and most importantly to limit England's influence in the US. there was a lot of pressure to keep them balanced, and where one of the leading causes of the Civil War.

It was protectionism pure and simple. The last time we put a tariff on something, Bush got his ass handed to him because the price of steel skyrocketed due to the trade war that went on between the US, Europe and China

"Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings..." Patrick Henry